Apparatus and methods to incorporate external system to approve deployment provisioning

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to customize deployment using approvals are disclosed. An example deployment approval manager can generate a first Approval Payload including an initial application component approval proposal of an application component that provides a logical template of an application. A deployment event broker can reply-back to the deployment approval manager with a second approval payload that includes a processed application component approval proposal.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to incorporate an external systemto approve deployment provisioning.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provide benefits such as the ability toexecute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer,replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiplehardware computers, and so forth.

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”)generally describes a suite of technologies provided by a serviceprovider as an integrated solution to allow for elastic creation of avirtualized, networked, and pooled computing platform (sometimesreferred to as a “cloud computing platform”). Enterprises may use IaaSas a business-internal organizational cloud computing platform(sometimes referred to as a “private cloud”) that gives an applicationdeveloper access to infrastructure resources, such as virtualizedservers, storage, and networking resources. By providing ready access tothe hardware resources required to run an application, the cloudcomputing platform enables developers to build, deploy, and manage thelifecycle of a web application (or any other type of networkedapplication) at a greater scale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may be composed of many processing units(e.g., servers). The processing units may be installed in standardizedframes, known as racks, which provide efficient use of floor space byallowing the processing units to be stacked vertically. The racks mayadditionally include other components of a cloud computing environmentsuch as storage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C depict an example system constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example generation of a multi-machine blueprint bythe example blueprint manager of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed virtual machinesand associated servers acting as hosts for deployment of componentservers for a customer.

FIGS. 4A-4G illustrate example implementations of virtual appliances.

FIG. 5 illustrates deployment approval event notifications occurring inthe context of the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 ofFIGS. 4B-4G

FIGS. 6A-6C is a flowchart representative of example of machine readableinstructions which may be executed to implement an example DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4B-4G to manage deploymentapproval of an application for deployment in an application deploymentenvironment of a cloud computing platform provider.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example processing platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of the flowchart ofFIGS. 6A-6C to implement the example Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 of FIGS. 4B-4G.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resourcesacross a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtualresources, and provisioning the virtual resources to perform cloudcomputing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizingcomputer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REALMACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485,U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/919,965, entitled “METHOD ANDSYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REAL MACHINES,” filed Mar. 26, 2007, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/736,422, entitled “METHODSAND APPARATUS FOR VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING,” filed Dec. 12, 2012, all threeof which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities forperforming computing operations. However, taking advantage of thesecomputing capabilities manually may be complex and/or requiresignificant training and/or expertise. Prior techniques to providingcloud computing platforms and services often require customers tounderstand details and configurations of hardware and software resourcesto establish and configure the cloud computing platform. Methods andapparatus disclosed herein facilitate the management of virtual machineresources in cloud computing platforms.

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer,runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installedon a virtual machine is referred to as a guest operating system. Becauseeach virtual machine is an isolated computing environment, virtualmachines (VMs) can be used as desktop or workstation environments, astesting environments, to consolidate server applications, etc. Virtualmachines can run on hosts or clusters. The same host can run a pluralityof VMs, for example.

As disclosed in detail herein, methods and apparatus disclosed hereinprovide for automation of management tasks such as provisioning multiplevirtual machines for a multiple-machine computing system (e.g., a groupof servers that inter-operate), linking provisioned virtual machines andtasks to desired systems to execute those virtual machines or tasks,and/or reclaiming cloud computing resources that are no longer in use.The improvements to cloud management systems (e.g., the vRealizeOrchestrator (vRO) from VMware®, the vRealize Automation CloudAutomation Software from VMware®), interfaces, portals, etc. disclosedherein may be utilized individually and/or in any combination. Forexample, all or a subset of the described improvements may be utilized.

As used herein, “availability” refers to the level of redundancyrequired to provide the continuous operation expected for the workloaddomain. As used herein, “performance” refers to the computer processingunit (CPU) operating speeds (e.g., CPU gigahertz (GHz)), memory (e.g.,gigabytes (GB) of random access memory (RAM)), mass storage (e.g., GBhard drive disk (HDD), GB solid state drive (SSD)), and powercapabilities of a workload domain. As used herein, “capacity” refers tothe aggregate number of resources (e.g., aggregate storage, aggregateCPU, etc.) across all servers associated with a cluster and/or aworkload domain. In examples disclosed herein, the number of resources(e.g., capacity) for a workload domain is determined based on theredundancy, the CPU operating speed, the memory, the storage, thesecurity, and/or the power requirements selected by a user. For example,more resources are required for a workload domain as the user-selectedrequirements increase (e.g., higher redundancy, CPU speed, memory,storage, security, and/or power options require more resources thanlower redundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security, and/or poweroptions).

Example Virtualization Environments

Many different types of virtualization environments exist. Three exampletypes of virtualization environment are: full virtualization,paravirtualization, and operating system virtualization.

Full “virtualization”, as used herein, is a virtualization environmentin which hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to providevirtual hardware resources to a virtual machine. In a fullvirtualization environment, the virtual machines do not have directaccess to the underlying hardware resources. In a typical fullvirtualization environment, a host operating system with embeddedhypervisor (e.g., VMware ESXi®) is installed on the server hardware.Virtual machines including virtual hardware resources are then deployedon the hypervisor. A guest operating system is installed in the virtualmachine. The hypervisor manages the association between the hardwareresources of the server hardware and the virtual resources allocated tothe virtual machines (e.g., associating physical random access memory(RAM) with virtual RAM). Typically, in full virtualization, the virtualmachine and the guest operating system have no visibility and/or directaccess to the hardware resources of the underlying server. Additionally,in full virtualization, a full guest operating system is typicallyinstalled in the virtual machine while a host operating system isinstalled on the server hardware. Example full virtualizationenvironments include VMware ESX®, Microsoft Hyper-V®, and Kernel BasedVirtual Machine (KVM).

“Paravirtualization”, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine, and guest operating systems arealso allowed direct access to some or all of the underlying hardwareresources of the server (e.g., without accessing an intermediate virtualhardware resource). In a typical paravirtualization system, a hostoperating system (e.g., a Linux-based operating system) is installed onthe server hardware. A hypervisor (e.g., the Xen® hypervisor) executeson the host operating system. Virtual machines including virtualhardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. The hypervisormanages the association between the hardware resources of the serverhardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines(e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtualRAM). In paravirtualization, the guest operating system installed in thevirtual machine is configured also to have direct access to some or allof the hardware resources of the server. For example, the guestoperating system may be precompiled with special drivers that allow theguest operating system to access the hardware resources without passingthrough a virtual hardware layer. For example, a guest operating systemmay be precompiled with drivers that allow the guest operating system toaccess a sound card installed in the server hardware. Directly accessingthe hardware (e.g., without accessing the virtual hardware resources ofthe virtual machine) may be more efficient, may allow for performance ofoperations that are not supported by the virtual machine and/or thehypervisor, etc.

“Operating system virtualization” is also referred to herein ascontainer virtualization. As used herein, “operating systemvirtualization” refers to a system in which processes are isolated in anoperating system. In a typical operating system virtualization system, ahost operating system is installed on the server hardware. The hostoperating system of an operating system virtualization system isconfigured (e.g., utilizing a customized kernel) to provide isolationand resource management for processes that execute within the hostoperating system (e.g., applications that execute on the host operatingsystem). The isolation of the processes is known as a container. Severalcontainers may share a host operating system. Thus, a process executingwithin a container is isolated the process from other processesexecuting on the host operating system. Thus, operating systemvirtualization provides isolation and resource management capabilitieswithout the resource overhead utilized by a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. Alternatively, the hostoperating system may be installed in a virtual machine of a fullvirtualization environment or a paravirtualization environment. Exampleoperating system virtualization environments include Linux ContainersLXC and LXD, Docker™, OpenVZ™, etc.

In some instances, a data center (or pool of linked data centers) mayinclude multiple different virtualization environments. For example, adata center may include hardware resources that are managed by a fullvirtualization environment, a paravirtualization environment, and anoperating system virtualization environment. In such a data center, aworkload may be deployed to any of the virtualization environments.

FIGS. 1A-1C depict an example system 100 constructed in accordance withthe teachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computingplatform. The example system 100 includes an application director 106and a cloud manager 138 to manage a cloud computing platform provider110 as described in more detail below. As described herein, the examplesystem 100 facilitates management of the cloud provider 110 and does notinclude the cloud provider 110. Alternatively, the system 100 could beincluded in the cloud provider 110.

The cloud computing platform provider 110 provisions virtual computingresources (e.g., virtual machines, or “VMs,” 114) that may be accessedby users of the cloud computing platform 110 (e.g., users associatedwith an administrator 116 and/or a developer 118) and/or other programs,software, device. etc.

An example application 102 of FIG. 1A includes multiple VMs 114. Theexample VMs 114 of FIG. 1A provide different functions within theapplication 102 (e.g., services, portions of the application 102, etc.).One or more of the VMs 114 of the illustrated example are customized byan administrator 116 and/or a developer 118 of the application 102relative to a stock or out-of-the-box (e.g., commonly availablepurchased copy) version of the services and/or application components.Additionally, the services executing on the example VMs 114 may havedependencies one or more other ones of the VMs 114.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the example cloud computing platform provider110 may provide multiple deployment environments 112, for example, fordevelopment, testing, staging, and/or production of applications. Theadministrator 116, the developer 118, other programs, and/or otherdevices may access services from the cloud computing platform provider110, for example, via REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs(Application Programming Interface) and/or via any other client-servercommunication protocol. Example implementations of a REST API for cloudcomputing services include a vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) and/or vRealizeAutomation (vRA) API and a vCloud Director API available from VMware,Inc. The example cloud computing platform provider 110 provisionsvirtual computing resources (e.g., the VMs 114) to provide thedeployment environments 112 in which the administrator 116 and/or thedeveloper 118 can deploy multi-tier application(s). One particularexample implementation of a deployment environment that may be used toimplement the deployment environments 112A of FIG. 1A is vCloudDataCenter cloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization isemployed by using containers instead of VMs 114 as shown in thedevelopment environment 112B. Example containers 114 a are softwareconstructs that run on top of a host operating system without the needfor a hypervisor or a separate guest operating system. Unlike virtualmachines, the containers 114 a do not instantiate their own operatingsystems. Like virtual machines, the containers 114 a are logicallyseparate from one another. Numerous containers can run on a singlecomputer, processor system and/or in the same development environment112. Also like virtual machines, the containers 114 a can executeinstances of applications or programs (e.g., an example application 102a) separate from application/program instances executed by the othercontainers in the same development environment 112B.

The example application director 106 of FIG. 1A, which may be running inone or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications ontoone of the example deployment environments 112A, 112B, 112C. Asillustrated in FIG. 1A, the example application director 106 includes atopology generator 120, a deployment plan generator 122, and adeployment director 124.

The example topology generator 120 generates a basic blueprint 126 ofFIG. 1A that specifies a logical topology of an application to bedeployed. The example basic blueprint 126 generally captures thestructure of an application as a collection of application componentsexecuting on virtual computing resources. An example online storeapplication basic blueprint 126 generated by the example topologygenerator 120 may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Javaweb application archive or “WAR” file including dynamic web pages,static web pages, Java servlets, Java classes, and/or other property,configuration and/or resources files that make up a Java webapplication) executing on an application server (e.g., Apache Tomcatapplication server) that uses a database (e.g., MongoDB) as a datastore. As used herein, the term “application” generally refers to alogical deployment unit, including of one or more application packagesand their dependent middleware and/or operating systems. Applicationsmay be distributed across multiple VMs. Thus, in the example describedabove, the term “application” refers to the entire online storeapplication, including application server and database components,rather than just the web application itself. In some instances, theapplication may include the underlying hardware and/or virtual computinghardware utilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint 126 of FIG. 1A may be assembled from items(e.g., templates) from a catalog 130, which is a listing of availablevirtual computing resources (e.g., VMs, networking, storage, etc.) thatmay be provisioned from the cloud computing platform provider 110 andavailable application components (e.g., software services, scripts, codecomponents, application-specific packages) that may be installed on theprovisioned virtual computing resources. The example of FIG. 1B shows amore detailed view of example catalog 130, explicitly showing forexample Application Component 150 including Initial ApplicationComponent Properties 154 a and Applied Deployment Approval Policy 159.Examples of Application Component Properties 154 a shown in FIG. 1Binclude an Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property, an Initial VirtualMachine Addressing Property, and an Initial Virtual Machine ResourceAllocation Property. In other examples: the example Initial VirtualMachine Naming Property can be plural examples of Initial VirtualMachine Naming Properties 156 a, an example Initial Virtual MachineAddressing Property can be plural examples of Initial Virtual MachineAddressing Properties 157 a, and an example Initial Virtual MachineResource Allocation Property can be plural examples of Initial VirtualMachine Resource Allocation Properties 158 a. The forgoing are relatedto VM's. For example, the Initial Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperties 158 a can be broadly directed to examples such as an initialCentral Processing Unit (CPU) allocation property for VM's, and aninitial memory allocation property for VM's, etc. FIG. 1B alsoexplicitly shows for example Application Component 150 as including anApplied Deployment Approval Policy 159, which for example include adesignated Approver of “Use Event Subscription” 159 a, and a designatedApproval Level as External 159 b. As discussed in greater detailsubsequently herein, the deployment approval policy associated withcatalog items affects deployment provisioning approval for the catalogitem.

The example catalog 130 in FIG. 1B may be pre-populated and/orcustomized by an administrator 116 (e.g., IT (Information Technology) orsystem administrator) that enters in specifications, configurations,properties, and/or other details about items in the catalog 130. Basedon the application, the example blueprints 126 may define one or moredependencies between application components to indicate an installationorder of the application components during deployment. For example,since a load balancer usually cannot be configured until a webapplication is up and running, the developer 118 may specify adependency from an Apache service to an application code package.

The example deployment plan generator 122 of the example applicationdirector 106 of FIG. 1A generates a deployment plan 128 based on thebasic blueprint 126 that includes deployment settings (e.g., virtualcomputing resources' cluster size, CPU, memory, networks, etc.) and anexecution plan of tasks. The execution plan specifies an order in whichvirtual computing resources are provisioned and application componentsare installed, configured, and started. The example deployment plan 128of FIG. 1A provides an IT administrator with a process-oriented view ofthe basic blueprint 126 that indicates discrete actions to be performedto deploy the application. Different deployment plans 128 may begenerated from a single basic blueprint 126 to test prototypes (e.g.,new application versions), to scale up and/or scale down deployments,and/or to deploy the application to different deployment environments112A, 112B. 112C, etc. (e.g., for testing, staging, production). In thisexample the deployment plan 128 is separated and distributed as a seriesof local deployment plans having a series of tasks to be executed by theVMs 114 provisioned from the deployment environment 112A. Each VM 114coordinates execution of each task with a centralized deployment module(e.g., the deployment director 124) to ensure that tasks are executed inan order that complies with dependencies specified in the applicationblueprint 126. The Application Director 106 can generate a BlueprintDisplay 135, as shown in FIG. 1A and as shown for example in greaterdetail in FIG. 1C. In the example of FIG. 1C, the Blueprint Display 135displays an example Blueprint 126 showing for example a Visual Depictionof Application Component 160. In the example of FIG. 1C, the ApplicationComponent includes an example Load Balancer Component 162 topologicallycoupled with example Application Server Components 164 topologicallycoupled with Database Component 166.

The example deployment director 124 of FIG. 1A executes the deploymentplan 128 by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider 110via a cloud interface 132 to provision and configure the VMs 114 in thedeployment environment 112A and/or containers 114 a in the deploymentenvironment 112B. The example cloud interface 132 of FIG. 1A provides acommunication abstraction layer by which the application director 106may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloud provider(s) 110and/or deployment environments 112A, 112B, 112C, etc. The deploymentdirector 124 provides each VM 114 and/or Containers 114A with a seriesof tasks specific to the receiving VM 114 and/or Containers 114A (hereinreferred to as a “local deployment plan”). Tasks are executed by the VMs114 and/or Containers 114A to install, configure, and/or start one ormore application components. For example, a task may be a script that,when executed by a VM 114 and/or Containers 114A, causes the VM 114and/or Containers 114A to retrieve and install particular softwarepackages from a central package repository 134. The example deploymentdirector 124 of FIG. 1A coordinates with the VMs 114 and/or Containers114A to execute the tasks in an order that observes installationdependencies between VMs 114 and/or Containers 114A according to thedeployment plan 128. After the application has been deployed, theapplication director 106 may be utilized to monitor and/or modify (e.g.,scale) the deployment.

The cloud manager 138 of FIG. 1A interacts with the components of thesystem 100 (e.g., the application director 106 and the cloud provider110) to facilitate the management of the resources of the cloud provider110. The example cloud manager 138 includes a blueprint manager 140 tofacilitate the creation and management of multi-machine blueprints and aresource manager 144 to reclaim unused cloud resources. The cloudmanager 138 may additionally include other components for managing acloud environment.

The blueprint manager 140 of the illustrated example manages thecreation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes ofmultiple virtual machines as a single group that can be provisioned,deployed, managed, etc. as a single unit. For example, a multi-machineblueprint may include definitions for multiple basic blueprints thatmake up a service (e.g., an e-commerce provider that includes webservers, application servers, and database servers). A basic blueprintis a definition of policies (e.g., hardware policies, security policies,network policies, etc.) for a single machine (e.g., a single virtualmachine such as a web server virtual machine and/or container).Accordingly, the blueprint manager 140 facilitates more efficientmanagement of multiple virtual machines and/or containers than manuallymanaging (e.g., deploying) basic blueprints individually. Examplemanagement of multi-machine blueprints is described in further detail inconjunction with FIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager 140 of FIG. 1A additionally annotatesbasic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints to control howworkflows associated with the basic blueprints and/or multi-machineblueprints are executed. A “workflow” as used herein is a series ofactions and decisions to be executed in a virtual computing platform.The example system 100 of FIG. 1A includes first and second distributedexecution manager(s) (DEM(s)) 146A and 146B to execute workflows.According to the illustrated example, the first DEM 146A includes afirst set of characteristics and is physically located at a firstlocation 148A. The second DEM 146B includes a second set ofcharacteristics and is physically located at a second location 148B. Thelocation and characteristics of a DEM may make that DEM more suitablefor performing certain workflows. For example, a DEM may includehardware particularly suited for performance of certain tasks (e.g.,high-end calculations), may be located in a desired area (e.g., forcompliance with local laws that require certain operations to bephysically performed within a country's boundaries), may specify alocation or distance to other DEMS for selecting a nearby DEM (e.g., forreducing data transmission latency), etc. Thus, the example blueprintmanager 140 of FIG. 1A annotates basic blueprints and/or multi-machineblueprints with capabilities that can be performed by a DEM that islabeled with the same or similar capabilities.

The resource manager 144 of the illustrated example facilitates recoveryof cloud computing resources of the cloud provider 110 that are nolonger being activity utilized. Automated reclamation may includeidentification, verification and/or reclamation of unused,underutilized, etc. resources to improve the efficiency of the runningcloud infrastructure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the blueprint 126 as amulti-machine blueprint generated by the example blueprint manager 140of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, three example basicblueprints (a web server blueprint 202, an application server blueprint204, and a database (DB) server blueprint 206) have been created (e.g.,by the topology generator 120). For example, the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint 204, and the database serverblueprint 206 may define the components of an e-commerce online store.

The example blueprint manager 140 provides a user interface for a userof the blueprint manager 140 (e.g., the administrator 116, the developer118, etc.) to specify blueprints (e.g., basic blueprints and/ormulti-machine blueprints) to be assigned to an instance of amulti-machine blueprint 208. For example, the user interface may includea list of previously generated basic blueprints (e.g., the web serverblueprint 202, the application server blueprint 204, the database serverblueprint 206, etc.) to allow selection of desired blueprints. Theblueprint manager 140 combines the selected blueprints into thedefinition of the multi-machine blueprint 208 and stores informationabout the blueprints in a multi-machine blueprint record defining themulti-machine blueprint 208. The blueprint manager 140 may additionallyinclude a user interface to specify other characteristics correspondingto the multi-machine blueprint 208. For example, a creator of themulti-machine blueprint 208 may specify a minimum number and a maximumnumber of each blueprint component of the multi-machine blueprint 208that may be provisioned during provisioning of the multi-machineblueprint 208.

Accordingly, any number of virtual machines (e.g., the virtual machinesassociated with the blueprints in the multi-machine blueprint 208)and/or containers may be managed collectively. For example, the multiplevirtual machines corresponding to the multi-machine blueprint 208 may beprovisioned based on an instruction to provision the multi-machineblueprint 208, may be power cycled by an instruction, may be shut downby an instruction, may be booted by an instruction, etc. As illustratedin FIG. 2, an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint 208may result in the provisioning of a multi-machine service formed fromone or more VMs 114 that includes virtualized web server(s) 210A,virtualized application server(s) 210B, and virtualized databaseserver(s) 210C. The number of virtual machines and/or containersprovisioned for each blueprint may be specified during the provisioningof the multi-machine blueprint 208 (e.g., subject to the limitsspecified during creation or management of the multi-machine blueprint208).

The multi-machine blueprint 208 maintains the reference to the basicblueprints 202, 204, 206. Accordingly, changes made to the blueprints(e.g., by a manager of the blueprints different than the manager of themulti-machine blueprint 208) may be incorporated into futureprovisioning of the multi-machine blueprint 208. Accordingly, anadministrator maintaining the source blueprints (e.g., an administratorcharged with managing the web server blueprint 202) may change or updatethe source blueprint and the changes may be automatically propagated tothe machines provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint 208. Forexample, if an operating system update is applied to a disk imagereferenced by the web server blueprint 202 (e.g., a disk image embodyingthe primary disk of the web server blueprint 202), the updated diskimage is utilized when deploying the multi-machine blueprint 210.Additionally, the blueprints may specify that the machines 210A, 210B,210C of the multi-machine service 210 provisioned from the multi-machineblueprint 208 operate in different environments. For example, somecomponents may be physical machines, some may be on-premise virtualmachines, and some may be virtual machines at a cloud service.

Several multi-machine blueprints may be generated to provide one of oneor more varied or customized services. For example, if virtual machinesdeployed in the various States of the United States require differentsettings, a multi-machine blueprint could be generated for each suchstate. The multi-machine blueprints could reference the same buildprofile and/or disk image, but may include different settings specificto each state. For example, the deployment workflow may include anoperation to set a locality setting of an operating system to identify aparticular State in which a resource is physically located. Thus, asingle disk image may be utilized for multiple multi-machine blueprintsreducing the amount of storage space for storing disk images comparedwith storing a disk image for each customized setting.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed appliances orvirtual appliances (vAs) (e.g. VMs 114 and or containers 114 a) andassociated virtualized servers acting as hosts for deployment ofcomponent servers (e.g., Web server, application server, databaseserver, etc.) for a customer. The vAs can be deployed as an automationtool, for example, used to deliver VMs and associated applications foron-premise automation and/or handling of external cloud resources (e.g.,Microsoft Azure™, Amazon Web Services™, etc.).

As shown in the example of FIG. 3, an installation 300 includes a loadbalancer (LB) 310 to assign tasks and/or manage access among a pluralityof vAs 320, 322, 324. Each vA 320-324 is a deployed VM 114 or container114 a. In this example, the vA 320 communicates with a plurality ofcomponent or host servers 330 a, 334 a, 336 a which store components forexecution by users (e.g., Web server 210A with Web components, Appserver 210B with application components, DB server 210C with databasecomponents, etc.). As shown in the example of FIG. 3, component servers334 a, 336 a can stem from component server 330 a rather than (or inaddition to) directly from the virtual appliance 320, although the vA320 can still communicate with such servers 334 a, 336 a. The LB 310enables the multiple vAs 320-324 and multiple servers 330-336 to appearas one device to a user. Access to functionality can then be distributedamong appliances 320-324 by the LB 310 and among servers 330 a-336 a bythe respective appliance 320, for example.

In the example installation 300, each vA 320, 322, 324 includes amanagement endpoint 340, 342, 344. Each component server 330 a, 334 a,336 a includes a management agent 350 a, 354 a, 356 a. The managementagents 350 a-356 a can communicate with their respective endpoint 340 tofacilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example. TheLB 310 can use least response time, round-robin, and/or other method tobalance traffic to vAs 320-324 and servers 330-336, for example.

In certain examples, a graphical user interface associated with a frontend of the load balancer 310 guides a customer through one or morequestions to determine system requirements for an installation 300 to beperformed. Once the customer has completed the questionnaire andprovided firewall access to install the agents 350 a-356 a, the agents350 a-356 a communicate with the endpoint 340 without customerinvolvement. Thus, for example, if a new employee needs a MicrosoftWindows® machine, a manager selects an option (e.g., clicks a button,etc.) via the graphical user interface to install a VM 114 and/orcontainer 114 a that is managed through the installation 300. To theuser, he or she is working on a single machine, but behind the scenes,the virtual appliance (e.g. vA 320) is accessing different servers (e.g.Component Servers 330 a-336 a) depending upon what functionality is tobe executed.

In certain examples, agents 350-356 are deployed in a same data centeras the endpoint 340 to which the agents 350-356 are associated. Thedeployment can include a plurality of agent servers 330-336 distributedworldwide, and the deployment can be scalable to accommodate additionalserver(s) with agent(s) to increase throughput and concurrency, forexample.

As will be discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, one or moreof the virtual appliances (vAs) can be configured as a DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324. Similar to vA 320 communicating with theplurality of component or host servers 330 a, 334 a, 336 a, theDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 can similarly communicate withanother plurality of component or host servers 330 b, 334 b, 336 b,which can likewise store components for execution by users (e.g., Webserver 210A with Web components, App server 210B with applicationcomponents, DB server 210C with database components, etc.). Eachcomponent server 330 b, 334 b, 336 b associated with the DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324 can include a respective management agent350 b, 354 b, 356 b. These management agents 350 b-356 b can communicatewith their respective endpoint 344 of Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc.,for example.

FIGS. 4A-4G illustrate example implementations of virtual appliances. Itshould be understood that FIG. 4A illustrates a generalized exampleimplementation of a vA 320 of FIG. 3. FIGS. 4B-4F illustrate a moreparticularized implementation of the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324. Looking first at the example of FIG. 4A, the vA 320 ofthis example includes a Service Provisioner 410 a, an orchestrator 420a, an event broker 430 a, an authentication provider 440 a, an internalreverse proxy 450 a, and a database 460 a. The components 410 a, 420 a,430 a, 440 a, 450 a, 460 a of the vA 320 may be implemented by one ormore of the VMs 114 or containers 114 a. The example Service Provisioner410 a provides services to provision interfaces (e.g., Web interface,application interface, etc.) for the vA 320. The example orchestrator(e.g., vCO) 420 a is an embedded or internal orchestrator for processingworkflows, which can leverage a provisioning manager, such as theapplication director 106 and/or catalog database 130 and/or cloudmanager 138, to provision VM services but is embedded in the vA 320. Forexample, the vCO 420 a can be used to invoke a blueprint to provision amanager for services.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services,component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, XaaS, etc.Catalog services provide a user interface via which a user can requestprovisioning of different preset environments (e.g., a VM including anoperating system and software and some customization, etc.), forexample. Identity services facilitate authentication and authorizationof users and assigned roles, for example. The component registrymaintains information corresponding to installed and deployed services(e.g., uniform resource locators for services installed in a VM/vA,etc.), for example. The event broker provides a messaging broker forevent-based communication, for example. The IaaS provisions one or moreVMs and/or containers for a customer via the vA 320. The XaaS extendsthis to also request, approve, provision, operate, and decommission anytype of catalog items (i.e storage, applications, accounts, and anythingelse that the catalog provides as a service).

The example event broker 430 a of FIG. 4A provides a mechanism to handletasks which are transferred between services with the orchestrator 420a. The example authentication provider 440 a (e.g., VMware Horizon™services, etc.) authenticates access to services and data, for example.

The components of the vA 320 access each other through REST API callsbehind the internal reverse proxy 450 a (e.g., a high availability (HA)proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer andproxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP) based application requests. In this example, the proxy450 a forwards communication traffic from within the vA 320 and/orbetween vAs 320, 322, 324 of FIG. 3 to the appropriate component(s) ofthe vA 320. In certain examples, services access the local host/proxy450 a on a particular port, and the call is masked by the proxy 450 aand forwarded to the particular component of the vA 320. Since the callis masked by the proxy 450 a, components can be adjusted within the vA320 without impacting outside users.

FIGS. 4B-4G illustrate a more particularized example implementation ofthe Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324. In the example of FIGS.4B-4G the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 includes a ServiceProvisioner 410 b and a Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b. TheDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can include a DeploymentApproval Event Record 422, Deployment Approval Event Information 423, aDeployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424, a DeploymentApproval Timer 425 and a Deployment Approval Processor 426, as shown indetail in the example of FIG. 4C. The Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 further includes Extensible Approval Service 420 c, whichincludes Plugin 420 d. The Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324further includes Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e. TheDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e, as shown in detail in theexample of FIG. 4E, can include a Deployment Approval WorkflowCommunications Manager 427, a Deployment Approval Workflow ExecutionUnit 428, and Deployment Approval Workflow 429. The Deployment ApprovalVirtual Appliance 324 further includes a Deployment Event Broker 430 b.The Deployment Event Broker 430 b can include a Deployment EventSubscription Manager 431, a Deployment Approval Topic Registry 432, anda Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a including a Pre-ApprovalProvisioning Schema 434 a, and a Post-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 bincluding a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema 434 b. The DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324 further includes an AuthenticationProvider 440 b, a Proxy 450 b and a Catalog Item Application ComponentProperties and Approvals Database 460 b. As shown in greater detail inthe example of FIGS. 4F and 4G the Catalog Item Approval Database 460 bcan include Application Component 150. Application Component 150 caninclude Initial Application Component Properties 154 a, InitialApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 b, Processed applicationcomponent approval proposals 154 c, Processed Application ComponentProperties 154 d and Applied Deployment Approval Policy 159. InitialApplication Component Properties 154 a can include Initial VirtualMachine Naming Properties 156 a, Initial Virtual Machine AddressingProperties 157 a and Initial Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperties 158 a. Initial Application Component Approval Proposals 154 bcan include an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal 156 b,Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal 157 b and Initialvirtual machine resource allocation approval proposal 158 b. Processedapplication component approval proposals 154 c can include ProcessedVirtual Machine Naming Approval 156 c, Processed Virtual MachineAddressing Approval 157 c and Processed Virtual Machine ResourceAllocation Approval 158 c. Processed Application Component Properties154 d can include Processed Virtual Machine Naming Properties 156 d,Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Properties 157 d, Processed VirtualMachine Resource Allocation Properties 158 d, application deploymentapproval policy 159, approver designation 159 a and approval level 159b.

The components 150, 154 a, 154 b, 154 c, 154 d, 156 a, 156 b, 156 c, 156d, 157 a, 157 b, 157 c, 157 d, 158 a, 158 b, 158 c, 158 d, 159,159 a,159 b, 410 b, 420 b, 420 c, 420 d, 420 e, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427,428, 429, 430 b, 431, 432, 433, 434, 440 b, 450 b, and 460 b of theDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 may be implemented by one ormore VM's 114 or containers 114 a.

Accordingly, similar to what was discussed previously in connection withFIG. 4A, in the example of FIGS. 4B-4G, the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 likewise includes a Service Provisioner 410 b and aninternal reverse proxy 450 b. The Service Provisioner 410 b providesservices to provision interfaces (e.g., Web interface, applicationinterface, etc.) for the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324. Theproxy 450 b forwards communication traffic from within the DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324 and/or between vAs 320, 322, 324 of FIG.3 to the appropriate component(s) of the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324. The components of the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 access each other through REST API calls behind theinternal reverse proxy 450 b (e.g., a high availability (HA) proxyHAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer and proxy forTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP) based application requests.

Further, the previous discussions of the example orchestrator (e.g.,vCO) 420 a are likewise applicable to the Deployment Approval ManagerService 420 b and the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e. TheDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b and the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e can likewise be embedded or internal, but alsocan be external, and can function as orchestrators for processingworkflows. The Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b and theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can likewise leverage theprovisioning manager, such as the application director 106 and/orcatalog database 130 and/or cloud manager 138, to provision VM services.The application director 106 and/or catalog database 130 and/or cloudmanager 138 can be embedded in the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance324. In an example, the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b, andthe example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can be used toinvoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services.

As another example, the Catalog Item Application Component Propertiesand Approvals Database 460 b shown in FIG. 4B (and shown in greaterdetail in FIGS. 4F and 4G) can leverage the catalog database 130 shownin FIG. 1A, so that Catalog Item Application Component Properties andApprovals Database 460 b can include Application Component 150 includingInitial Application Component Properties 154 a and Applied DeploymentApproval Policy 159. Examples of Application Component Properties 154 afrom the example of FIG. 1B and also in the example of FIG. 4F includean Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property, an Initial Virtual MachineAddressing Property, and an Initial Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperty. In other examples: the example Initial Virtual Machine NamingProperty can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine NamingProperties 156 a, an example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Propertycan be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157 a, and an example Initial Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperty can be plural examples of Initial Virtual Machine ResourceAllocation Properties 158 a. The forgoing are related to VM's and/orcontainers. For example, the Initial Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperties 158 a can be broadly directed to examples such as an initialCentral Processing Unit (CPU) allocation property for VM's and/orcontainers, and an initial memory allocation property for VM's, and/orcontainers etc.

The deployment approval policy can be applied to the applicationcomponent in the database. The deployment approval manager can selectfrom among the plurality of initial application component properties topropose for approval in the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal in accordance with the Deployment Approval Policy. For example,the plurality of Initial Application Component Properties can include afirst grouping of Initial Application Component Properties. In anotherexample the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal proposingapproval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties is theInitial Application Component Approval Proposal proposing approval ofthe first grouping of Initial Application Component Properties.

Examples of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals 154 bshown in FIG. 4F include Initial Virtual Machine Naming ApprovalProposal 156 b, Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal 157b and Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal 158b. Examples of the Processed Application Component Approval Proposals154 c shown in FIG. 4G include Processed Virtual Machine Naming ApprovalProposal 156 c, Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal157 c and Processed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation ApprovalProposal 158 c.

As will be discussed in greater detail subsequently herein, after theDeployment Event Broker 430 b replies back to the Approval ManagerService 420 b with the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal, the Approval Manager Service 420 b can use the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal to determine approval of one ofthe initial application component properties based upon the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.

The Application Component 150 can provide a logical template ofApplication 102, 102 a for deployment in an Application DeploymentEnvironment 112. The Catalog Item Application Component Properties andApprovals Database 460 b can include the Application Component 150 toprovide the logical template of the Application 102, 102 a.

The example Deployment Approval Manager Service, also referenced moregenerally as Deployment Approval Manager 420 b, can be implemented as aservice. As mentioned previously, various services can include catalogservices, identity services, component registry services, event brokerservices, IaaS, XaaS, etc. Using the IaaS, the Deployment ApprovalManager Service 420 b and/or the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420 e can provision one or more VMs for the customer via the DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324. This can be extended using the XaaS, sothat the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b and/or the DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e can provide for various deploymentactivities (e.g. requesting, approving, provisioning, operating, and/ordecommissioning) with respect to any type of catalog database 130 items(e.g., storage, applications, accounts, and anything else that thecatalog database 130 provides as a service).

As mentioned previously, Catalog services provide the user interface viawhich the user can request provisioning of different preset environments(e.g., a VM including an operating system and software and somecustomization, etc.), for example. When a user requests a catalog itemto which an approval policy is applied that includes the “Use EventSubscription” Approver designation, this is an example of an occurrenceof a deployment approval event (a deployment approval event occurrence.)For example, the catalog item can be an Application Component 150, andan Applied Deployment Approval Policy 154 can be associated with theApplication Component 150, wherein the Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159 can have both a designated Approver: Use Event Subscription159 a and also a designated Approval Level: External 159 b, as shown asincluded in the database Catalog 130 of FIGS. 1B and 1 n the CatalogItem Application Component Properties and Approvals Database 460 b ofFIG. 4F. Accordingly, a user request for the Application Component 150is an example of a deployment approval event occurrence.

The Approval Manager Service 420 b shown in FIG. 4B (and shown ingreater detail in FIG. 4C) can be associated with the DeploymentApproval Policy 154 in the Catalog Item Approval Database 460 b. TheApproval Manager Service 420 b can include a Deployment Approval EventRecord 422 that records Deployment Approval Event information 423 aboutthe Deployment Approval Event Occurrence. For example, the ApprovalManager Service 420 b can include a Deployment Approval Event Record 422that records Deployment Approval Event Information 423 about the userrequesting the Application Component 150. The Deployment Approval EventRecord 422 that records Deployment Approval Event Information 423 aboutthe deployment approval event occurrence can include a DeploymentApproval Event Log 422.

The Deployment Approval Event Information 423 can also includeinformation of at least one of, property names, property values,information about the request, identifier for the source request, nameof the requested item, description of the requested item, justificationprovided by the user specifying why the request is required, descriptionentered by the user specifying the purpose of the request, an approvallevel identifier (ID), an approval level name, a time the approvalrequest is created, a principal identifier (ID) of the user for whom thesource request is initiated, a business group identified (ID), aprincipal identifier id of the user who actually submits the request,information about the source of the request, identifier of the sourceobject, as defined by an intiator service, identifier of the servicewhich initiated the approval, and/or identifier of a class to which thesource object belongs. The Deployment Approval Event Information 423 canbe included in the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal in aFirst Approval Payload of a First Deployment Approval EventNotification.

For example, the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b shown in FIG.4B (and shown in greater detail in FIG. 4C) can include a DeploymentApproval Event Record 422 that records Deployment Approval EventInformation 423 about the Deployment Approval Event Occurrence. Forexample, the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can include aDeployment Approval Event Record 422 that records Deployment ApprovalEvent information 423 about the user requesting the ApplicationComponent 150. For example, the Deployment Approval Event Record 422that records Deployment Approval Event Information 423 about thedeployment Approval event occurrence can include the Deployment ApprovalEvent Log 422.

The Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can include a DeploymentApproval Processor 426 to process the Deployment Approval EventInformation, and can further include a Deployment Approval EventNotification Generator 424. The Deployment Approval Event NotificationGenerator 424 of the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b can generate aFirst Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to theDeployment Approval Event Record 422 that records Deployment ApprovalEvent Information 423 about a deployment approval event occurrence. Thefirst Deployment Approval Event Notification can include DeploymentApproval Event Information 423, and can include a First Approval Payloadincluding the initial application component approval proposal.

The initial application component approval proposal of the FirstApproval Payload can include at least one of an initial virtual machinenaming approval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approvalproposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approvalproposal. The initial virtual machine resource allocation approvalproposal can be broadly directed to examples such as an initial CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) allocation approval proposal for VM's, and aninitial memory allocation approval proposal for VM's, etc.

An example deployment approval policy can be applied to the ApplicationComponent 150 in the database 460 b (e.g. Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159.) The example deployment approval manager 420 b can generatethe initial application component approval proposal, for example via theDeployment Approval Processor 426 and the Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159. The Initial Application Component Approval Proposal caninclude at least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approvalproposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, andan initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal.

In another example, the initial application component approval proposalcan be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154 b. The deployment approval policy is applied to the ApplicationComponent 150 in the Database 460 b (e.g. Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159). The Deployment Approval Manager 420 can select from amongthe plurality of Initial Application Component Properties 154 a toselect for the Initial application component approval proposals 154 b inaccordance with the deployment approval policy 159. The InitialApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 b can include at least oneof: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initialvirtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtualmachine resource allocation approval proposal. In yet another example,the selected initial application component property can be a firstselected grouping of initial application component properties. Thegenerating of the initial application component approval proposal caninclude selecting the first selected grouping of initial applicationcomponent properties to generate the initial application componentapproval proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 canselect the first selected grouping of initial application componentproperties to select for the initial application component approvalproposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 can usewildcards and/or have multiple sub-values in a value field, which can beseparated by a pre-defined symbol, to select the first selected groupingof initial application component properties to select for the initialapplication component approval proposal.

As already mentioned, the First Deployment Approval Event Notificationcan include Deployment Approval Event Information 423, and can include aFirst Approval Payload including the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal. The First Approval Payload of the First DeploymentEvent Notification can include a serialized form of at least a portionof the Deployment Approval Event Record 422 that records the DeploymentApproval Event Information 423 about the deployment approval eventoccurrence. The Deployment Approval Manager 420 b can generate the FirstDeployment Approval Event Notification in response to the DeploymentApproval Event Record 422 that records Deployment Approval EventInformation 423 about the deployment approval event occurrence.

The Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424 of theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can send the First DeploymentApproval Event Notification to the Deployment Event Broker 430 b. Forexample, the Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424 of theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can submit the FirstDeployment Approval Event Notification to the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 (selected from Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433 a and Post Approval Provisioning Topic 433 b) of the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b for publication to the Extensible Approval Service420 c. The Deployment Event Broker 430 b can consume the FirstDeployment Approval Event Notification 501 submitted by the DeploymentApproval Manager Service 420 b. Authentication provider 440 b canauthenticate access to the Deployment Event Broker 430 b.

The Deployment Approval Event Broker 430 b of this example includes ascalable distributed service. The Deployment Approval Manager Service420 b can start the Deployment Approval Timer 425 running, after theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b sends the First DeploymentApproval Event Notification to the Deployment Event Broker 430 b. TheDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can wait, for a predeterminedperiod of time as indicated using the Deployment Approval Timer 425, fora responsive event notification (e.g. a reply-back) from the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b. For example, if the predetermined time period is 24hours, then the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can wait for24 hours a reply-back from the Deployment Event Broker 430 b. If theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b receives no reply-back fromthe Deployment Event Broker 430 b within the predetermined time periodas indicated by the Deployment Approval Timer 425, then the DeploymentApproval Manager Service 420 b can notify the user.

The Deployment Event Broker 430 b shown in FIG. 4B, and shown in greaterdetail in FIG. 4D can include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431 and a Deployment Approval Topic Registry 432. The Deployment EventBroker 430 b can include Approval Provisioning Topics 433. At least oneof the Approval Provisioning Topics 433 can be selected (e.g., at leastone of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a and Post-ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 b can be selected) to publish a First DeploymentApproval Event Notification received from the Approval Manager Service420 b. For example, the Deployment Event Broker 430 b can includeselectable first and second Approval Provisioning Topics, wherein thefirst Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a of the Deployment Event Broker433 can be a Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a having a PreapprovalProvisioning Schema 434 a, and the second Approval Provisioning Topic433 b of the Deployment Event Broker can be a Post-Approval ProvisioningTopic 433 b having a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema 434 b. TheDeployment Event Broker 430 b can publish the First Deployment ApprovalEvent Notification, via a selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 fromamong the first and second Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a,433 b (e.g.selected from Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a and Post-ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 b), in response to receiving the First DeploymentApproval Event Notification received the Approval Manager Service 420 b.

The Approval Manager Service 420 b can select the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 from among the first and second ApprovalProvisioning Topics 433 a, 433 b based on the Applied DeploymentApproval Policy 154 for approving provisioning of the associatedApplication Component 150. For example, if the Applied DeploymentApproval Policy 154 for approving provisioning of the associatedApplication Component 150 is to provision the Application Component 150prior to the Approval Manager Service 420 b indicating that approval iscomplete, then the Approval Manager Service 420 b can select thePre-approval Provisioning Topic 433. If the Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 154 for approving provisioning of the associated ApplicationComponent 150 is to provision the Application Component 150 after theApproval Manager Service 420 b indicating that approval is complete,then the Approval Manager Service 420 b can select the Post-approvalProvisioning Topic 435. The Deployment Event Broker 430 b can include aDeployment Event Subscription Manager 431 to manage subscriptions to thetopics 433 a, 433 b. Topic subscriptions can be registered in theDeployment Approval Topic Registry 432.

Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a includes a Pre-ApprovalProvisioning Schema 434 a. Post-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 bincludes a Post-Approval Provisioning Schema 434 b. The Deployment EventBroker 430 b includes Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a and/orPost-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 b, e.g., selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433, to publish the First Deployment Approval EventNotification 502 to the Extensible Approval Service 420 c, in responseto the Deployment Event Broker 430 b consuming the First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 501.

The Extensible Approval Service 420 c can include at least one Plugin420 d so as to facilitate extensibility of the Extensible ApprovalService 420 c. The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can beemployed to process a deployment approval workflow 429. The Plugin 420 dof the Extensible Approval Service 420 c can facilitate communicationbetween the Extensible Approval Service 420 c and the DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e. The Extensible Approval Service 420 ccan generate a Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request 511 inresponse to the First Deployment Approval Notification 502. TheDeployment Approval Workflow Processing Request 511 can include theInitial application component approval proposal.

Examples of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e shown inFIG. 4B are shown in greater detail in FIG. 4E. As shown in FIG. 4E, theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can include a DeploymentApproval Workflow Communications Manager 427 to manage communicationswith the Deployment Approval Workflow Processors 420 e. Additionally,the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can include DeploymentApproval Workflow Execution Unit 428 to process the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429.

The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can process theDeployment Approval Workflow 429 to process the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payload into theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal to be included in theSecond Approval Payload. As mentioned previously, The InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payloadcan include at least one of an initial virtual machine naming approvalproposal, an Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal, andan Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal. TheProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal of the Second ApprovalPayload can include at least one of a Processed Virtual Machine NamingApproval, a Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval, and aProcessed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal.

The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can process theDeployment Approval Workflow 429 in response to the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processing Request 511. The Deployment Approval Workflow 429can process the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal. In another example,the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal can be a pluralityof Initial Application Component Approval Proposals 154 b, and theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor can process the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 b into a plurality ofProcessed Application Component Approval Proposals 154 c.

For example, an Initial Application Component Approval Proposal of theFirst Approval Payload can be processed by the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e into a Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal to be included in a Second Approval Payload of a SecondDeployment Approval Event Notification. The Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal can indicate approval and/or disapproval ofat least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.Further, in the case of disapproval of at least part of the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal, the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal toat least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal.

For example, part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposalcan include the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (forexample “foo-machine-name”). When processed by the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e, the Initial Virtual Machine Naming ApprovalProposal (for example “foo-machine-name”) part of the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal can be processed to indicateapproval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming ApprovalProposal (for example approval or disapproval of example“foo-machine-name”). The indication of approval or disapproval of theInitial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal can be included in theProcessed Application Component Approval. Moreover, in the case ofdisapproval, for example disapproval of the Initial Virtual MachineNaming Approval Proposal (for example disapproval of“foo-machine-name”), the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal can include an approved counterproposal to at least part of theInitial Application Component Approval Proposal, e.g., an approvedcounterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal,e.g., “my-foo-machine-name” can be included as an approvedcounterproposal to “foo-machine-name”. The approved counter proposal“my-foo-machine-name” can be included in the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal, to be included in the Second ApprovalPayload of the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing ApprovalProposal (for example an address reservation “198.111.111”) can beprocessed into a Processed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal,indicating approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual MachineAddressing Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval ofthe Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, e.g.,disapproval of an address reservation “198.111.111”, the ProcessedVirtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal can include an approvedcounterproposal, for example an approved counterproposal addressreservation “198.999.999”.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Memory AllocationApproval Proposal (for example “4 Gigabytes of Memory”) of the FirstApproval Payload can be processed into a Processed Virtual MachineMemory Allocation Approval Proposal, indicating approval or disapprovalof the Initial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal.Moreover, in the case of disapproval of the Initial Virtual MachineMemory Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., disapproval of “4 Gigabytesof Memory”, the Processed Virtual Machine Memory Allocation ApprovalProposal can include an approved counterproposal, for example anapproved counterproposal “2 Gigabytes of Memory”, to be included in theSecond Approval Payload.

As another example, the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit(CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal (for example “4 CPUs”) of the FirstApproval Payload can be processed into the Processed Virtual MachineCentral Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, indicatingapproval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal. Moreover, in thecase of disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., disapproval of “4 CPUs”,the Processed Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit (CPU) AllocationApproval Proposal can include an approved counterproposal, for examplean approved counterproposal “2 CPU's” to be included in the SecondApproval Payload.

Processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow 429 can start an externalapproval interaction with one or more users through, for example, emailor other user notification and/or can go to an external 3rd partyservice for approval. Processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow 429can await finishing processing for receiving an approval (and/ordisapproval) answer from the external approval interaction with one ormore users and/or the 3rd party service. For example, when theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e receives an approval answer(and/or disapproval answer) from the external approval interaction withone or more users and/or the 3rd party service, processing of theDeployment Approval Workflow 429 can finish. The approval answer (and/ordisapproval answer) can provide for indication of approval ordisapproval, depending on whether approval is approved or disapproved bythe external approval interaction with one or more users and/or the 3rdparty service.

The Extensible Approval Service 420 c can be in communication with theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e to determine whether theDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e is finished processing theDeployment Approval Workflow 429 (e.g. whether the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e is finished processing the Initial applicationcomponent approval proposal into the Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposal.) The Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e canrespond to the Extensible Approval Service 420 c with the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal to be included in the SecondApproval Payload, after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 efinishes processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow 429 (e.g. afterthe Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e is finished processingthe Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.) The Extensible ApprovalService 420 c can generate the Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 503 in response to an occurrence of the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e finishing processing of the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429 (e.g. generate the Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 503 in response to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor420 e finishing processing the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.)The Second Deployment Approval Event Notification includes the SecondApproval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.

The selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment EventBroker 430 b can be repliable. For example, as among the ApprovalProvisioning Topics 433 at least one of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic433 a and Post-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 b can be selected, andthe of Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic 433 a and Post-ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 b can be repliable. The Extensible ApprovalService 420 c can reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433 of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b with the Second DeploymentApproval Event Notification 503 including the Second Approval Payload.In turn, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b can reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager 420b with the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 504 includingthe second approval payload. The Deployment Approval Manager 420 b candetermine approval of one of the Initial Application ComponentProperties based upon the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal.

In another example, the Processed application component approvalproposal can be a plurality of Processed Application Component ApprovalProposals 154 c, and the Deployment Approval Manager can determineapproval of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposals 154 c.

For example, as mentioned previously herein, the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal can indicate approval and/or disapproval ofat least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal.Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b can determineapproval of one of the Initial Application Component Properties basedupon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of at least part ofthe Initial Application Component Proposal in the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal.

Further, as mentioned previously herein, in the case of disapproval ofat least part of the Initial Application Component Proposal, theProcessed Application Component Approval can include the approvedcounterproposal to at least part of the Initial Application ComponentProposal. Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b can modifyone of the Initial Application Component Properties based upon theapproved counterproposal to at least part of the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal in the Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposal. For example, as mentioned previously, part of theInitial Application Component Approval Proposal can include the InitialVirtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (for example“foo-machine-name”). When processed by the Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor 420 e, the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal(for example “foo-machine-name”) part of the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal can be processed to indicate approval ordisapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal (forexample approval or disapproval of example “foo-machine-name”). Theindication of approval or disapproval of the Initial Virtual MachineNaming Approval Proposal can be included in the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal. Moreover, in the case of disapproval, forexample disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming ApprovalProposal (for example disapproval of “foo-machine-name”), the ProcessedApplication Component Approval can include an approved counterproposalto at least part of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal,e.g., the approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine NamingApproval Proposal, e.g., “my-foo-machine-name” can be included as theapproved counterproposal to “foo-machine-name”. The approved counterproposal “my-foo-machine-name” can be included in the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal, to be included in the SecondApproval Payload of the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification.Accordingly, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b can determineapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Naming Property based upon theindication of approval and/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual MachineNaming Approval Proposal in the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal, e.g. can determine disapproval of “foo-machine-name” based onthe Processed Application Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, theDeployment Approval Manager 420 b can modify the Initial Virtual MachineNaming Property, e.g., modify “foo-machine-name” to“my-foo-machine-name”, based upon the approved counterproposal to theInitial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal in the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b candetermine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Propertybased upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of the InitialVirtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal in the Processed VirtualMachine Addressing Approval Proposal, e.g., can determine disapproval ofthe address reservation “198.111.111” based on the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420 b can modify the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Property, e.g.,modify “198.111.111” to “198.999.999”, based upon the approvedcounterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine Addressing ApprovalProposal in the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b candetermine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Memory AllocationProperty based upon the indication of approval and/or disapproval of theInitial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal in theProcessed Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g., candetermine disapproval of “4 Gigabytes of Memory” based on the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal. Moreover, the DeploymentApproval Manager 420 b can modify the Initial Virtual Machine MemoryAllocation Property, e.g., can modify “4 Gigabytes of Memory” to “2Gigabytes of Memory” based upon the approved counterproposal to theInitial Virtual Machine Memory Allocation Approval Proposal in theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal.

Similarly, as another example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b candetermine approval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) Allocation Property based upon the indication of approvaland/or disapproval of the Initial Virtual Machine Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal in the Processed Virtual MachineCentral Processing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal, e.g. candetermine disapproval of “4 CPUs” based on the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal. Moreover, the Deployment Approval Manager420 b can modify the Initial Virtual Machine Central Processing Unit(CPU) Allocation Property, e.g., modify “4 CPUs” to “2 CPUs” based uponthe approved counterproposal to the Initial Virtual Machine CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) Allocation Approval Proposal in the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.

FIG. 5 illustrates deployment approval event notifications occurring inthe context of the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 ofFIGS. 4B-4G. In the example of FIG. 5, included are Deployment ApprovalManager Service 420 b, Deployment Event Broker 430 b, ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c including Plugin 420 d and Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e. The Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 bcan generate a First Deployment Approval Event Notification thatincludes a First Approval Payload. The First Approval Payload includesthe Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. The DeploymentApproval Manager Service 420 b can submit the First Deployment ApprovalEvent Notification 501, including the First Approval Payload, to theDeployment Event Broker 430 b for publication. Example Schemas 434 a,434 b of the Approval Provisioning Topics 433 of the Deployment EventBroker 430 b can use a data structure having a variable-length elementlike a property array, or in this case an initial approval array (e.g.key-value pair) for storing the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal of the First Approval Payload, as shown for example in FIG. 5.As a general matter, in the example topic-based system shown in thefigures, event notifications are published by event notificationproducers/generators to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 ofthe Deployment Event Broker 430 b, and in turn the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 publishes the event notifications to subscribersregistered with the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 to receivethe event notifications. The selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433functions as a named logical channel for subscribers registered with theselected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 to receive the eventnotifications. The selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of theDeployment Event Broker 430 b can perform a store and forward functionto route event notifications from event notificationproducers/generators to subscribers. So in the example shown in FIG. 5,the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment EventBroker 430 b can route/publish the First Deployment Approval EventNotification from the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b (asevent notification generator/producer) to the Extensible ApprovalService 420 c (as event notification subscriber).

In particular, as shown in the example of FIG. 5, the Deployment EventBroker 430 b can consume the First Deployment Approval EventNotification 501 (including the First Approval Payload) submitted by theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b. The Deployment Event Broker430 b then routes/publishes the First Deployment Approval EventNotification 502 to the Extensible Approval Service 420 c as subscriberto the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433, in response to theDeployment Event Broker 430 b consuming the First Deployment ApprovalEvent Notification 501. It should be noted that the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b can berepliable. For example, since the example selected Approval ProvisioningTopic 433 is repliable, the example selected Approval Provisioning Topic433 can accept the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification as areply back notification from the Extensible Approval Service 420 csubscriber, in reply back to the prior First Deployment Approval EventNotification received by the Extensible Approval Service 420 csubscriber from the repliable selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433.A repliable topic can be defined as capable of accepting a reply backnotification from a subscriber, in reply back to a prior notificationreceived by the subscriber from the repliable topic. As will bediscussed in greater detail subsequently herein, the Extensible ApprovalService 420 c can reply back to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic433 of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b with a Second DeploymentApproval Event Notification 504. However, in the example of FIG. 5,prior to any replying back, the Deployment Event Broker 430 b firstpublishes the First Deployment Approval Event Notification 502 to theExtensible Approval Service 420 c, in response to the Deployment EventBroker 430 b consuming the First Deployment Approval Event Notification501.

The Extensible Approval Service 420 c can generate a Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processing Request 511 in response to the First DeploymentApproval Notification 502. The Deployment Approval Workflow ProcessingRequest 511 can include the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal.

In response to the Deployment Approval Workflow Processing Request 511,the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e can process theDeployment Approval Workflow 429, so as to process the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payloadinto the Processed application component approval proposal, to beincluded in the Second Approval Payload. The Extensible Approval Service420 c can be in communication with the Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor 420 e to determine whether the Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor 420 e is finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow429 (e.g. whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e isfinished processing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposalinto the Processed application component approval proposal.) Forexample, this may be accomplished with Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor 420 e setting a flag of occurrence for the Extensible ApprovalService 420 c, or by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 eissuing some sort of notification or notification message.

As shown in the example of FIG. 5, the Extensible Approval Service 420 ccan generate a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 503 inresponse to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420 e finishing processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow 429 (e.g.generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 503 inresponse to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor 420 e finishingprocessing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into theProcessed application component approval proposal.) The SecondDeployment Approval Event Notification 503 includes the Second ApprovalPayload. The Second Approval Payload includes the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal. As mentioned previously, example Schemas434 a, 434 b of the Approval Provisioning Topics 433 of the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b can use a data structure having a variable-lengthelement like a property array, or in this case a processed approvalarray (e.g. key-value pair) for storing the Processed applicationcomponent approval proposal of the Second Approval Payload, as shown forexample in FIG. 5.

As mentioned previously, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 ofthe Deployment Event Broker 430 b can be repliable. The ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c can reply back to the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b with theSecond Deployment Approval Event Notification 503 including the SecondApproval Payload. In turn, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b can reply back to the DeploymentApproval Manager 420 b with the Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 504 including the Second Approval Payload. Accordingly, inaddition to being capable of accepting a reply back notification from asubscriber, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 is also capableof sending a reply back notification to a generator/producer, in replyback to a prior notification received by the topic from thegenerator/producer. For example, the selected Approval ProvisioningTopic 433 can reply back to the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b withthe Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 504, in reply back tothe prior First Deployment Approval Event Notification received by theselected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 from the Deployment ApprovalManager 420 b, as generator/producer of the First Deployment ApprovalEvent Notification.

While an example manner of implementing the system 100 is illustrated inFIGS. 1A-1C, and an example manner of implementing the blueprints202-208 and an example manner of implementing the multimachine service210 is illustrated in FIG. 2, and an example manner of implementinginstallation 300 is illustrated in FIG. 3, and an example manner ofimplementing virtual appliance 320, Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324, Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b, DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e andCatalog Item Application Component Properties and Approvals Database 460b is illustrated in FIGS. 4A-4G, and an example manner of operating theDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 is illustrated in FIG. 5, oneor more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in theseforegoing figures may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted,eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.

Further, the example application 102, 102 a, the example deploymentenvironment 104, the example application director 106, the examplevirtual infrastructure navigator 108, the example cloud provider 110,the example deployment environments 112, the example VMs 114, theexample containers 114 a, the example topology generator 120, theexample deployment plan generator 122, the example deployment director124, the example blueprint 126, 127, the example deployment plans 128,the example catalog database 130, the example cloud interface 132, theexample central package repository 134, the example blueprint display135, the example cloud manager 138, the example blueprint manager 140,the example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, the exampleapplication component 150, the example initial application componentproperties 154 a, the example initial virtual machine naming properties156 a, the example initial virtual machine addressing properties 157 a,the example initial virtual machine resource allocation properties 158a, the example applied deployment approval policy 159, the examplevisual depiction of application component 160, and/or, more generally,the example system 100 of FIGS. 1A-1C may be implemented by hardware,software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example application 102, 102 a, theexample deployment environment 104, the example application director106, the example virtual infrastructure navigator 108, the example cloudprovider 110, the example deployment environments 112, the example VMs114, the example containers 114 a, the example topology generator 120,the example deployment plan generator 122, the example deploymentdirector 124, the example blueprints 126, 127, the example deploymentplans 128, the example catalog 130, the example cloud interface 132, theexample central package repository 134, the example blueprint display135, the example cloud manager 138, the example blueprint manager 140,the example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, the exampleapplication component 150, the example initial application componentproperties 154 a, the example initial virtual machine naming properties156 a, the example initial virtual machine addressing properties 157 a,the example initial virtual machine resource allocation properties 158a, the example applied deployment approval policy 159, the examplevisual depiction of application component 160, and/or, more generally,the example system 100 of FIGS. 1A-1C could be implemented by one ormore analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmableprocessor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)),programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logicdevice(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example blueprints 202, 206, 208, the example servers 210A,210B, 210C, and/or, more generally, the example multi-machine blueprintsof FIG. 2 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or anycombination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example,any of the example blueprints 202, 206, 208, the example servers 210A,210B, 210C, and/or, more generally, the example multi-machine blueprintsof FIG. 2 could be implemented by one or more analog or digitalcircuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), applicationspecific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s)(PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example load balancer 310, the example Virtual Appliances320, 322, the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324, theexample Component Servers 330 a-336 a, 330 b-336 b, the exampleManagement Endpoints 340-344, the example Management Agents 350 a-356 a,350 b-356 b and/or, more generally, the example installation 300 of FIG.3 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or anycombination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example,any of the example load balancer 310, the example Virtual Appliances320, 322, the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324, theexample Component Servers 330 a-336 a, 330 b-336 b, the exampleManagement Endpoints 340-344, the example Management Agents 350 a-356 a,350 b-356 b and/or, more generally, the example installation 300 of FIG.3 could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s),logic circuits, programmable processor(s), application specificintegrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s))and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, the example Service Provisioner 410 a, example ServiceProvisioner 410 b, example Orchestrator 420 a, example DeploymentApproval Manager Service 420 b, example Deployment Approval Event Record422, example Deployment Approval Event Information 423, exampleDeployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424, example DeploymentApproval Timer 425, example Deployment Approval Processor 426, exampleExtensible Approval Service 420 c, example Plugin 420 d, exampleDeployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Communications Manager 427, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Execution Unit 428, example Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429, example Event Broker 430 a, example Deployment EventBroker 430 b, example Deployment Event Subscription Manager 431, exampleDeployment Approval Topic Registry 432, example Approval ProvisioningTopics 433, example Deployment Approval Schema 434, exampleAuthentication Provider 440 a, example Authentication Provider 440 b,example Proxy 450 a, example Proxy 450 b, example Database 460 a,example Catalog Item Application Component Properties and ApprovalsDatabase 460 b, example Application Component 150, example InitialApplication Component Properties 154 a, example Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposals 154 b, example Processed applicationcomponent approval proposals 154 c, example Processed ApplicationComponent Properties 154 d, example Applied Deployment Approval Policy159, example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties 156 a, exampleInitial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties 157 a, example InitialVirtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties 158 a, example Initialvirtual machine naming approval proposal 156 b, example Initial virtualmachine addressing approval proposal 157 b, example Initial virtualmachine resource allocation approval proposal 158 b, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Naming Approval 156 c, example Processed Virtual MachineAddressing Approval 157 c, example Processed Virtual Machine ResourceAllocation Approval Proposal 158 c, example Processed Virtual MachineNaming Properties 156 d, example Processed Virtual Machine AddressingProperties 157 d, example Processed Virtual Machine Resource AllocationProperties 158 d and/or, more generally, example Virtual Appliance 320and example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4A-4G maybe implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination ofhardware, software and/or firmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example Service Provisioner 410 a, exampleService Provisioner 410 b, example Orchestrator 420 a, exampleDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b, example Deployment ApprovalEvent Record 422, example Deployment Approval Event Information 423,example Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424, exampleDeployment Approval Timer 425, example Deployment Approval Processor426, example Extensible Approval Service 420 c, example Plugin 420 d,example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Communications Manager 427, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Execution Unit 428, example Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429, example Event Broker 430 a, example Deployment EventBroker 430 b, example Deployment Event Subscription Manager 431, exampleDeployment Approval Topic Registry 432, example Approval ProvisioningTopics 433, example Deployment Approval Schema 434, exampleAuthentication Provider 440 a, example Authentication Provider 440 b,example Proxy 450 a, example Proxy 450 b, example Database 460 a,example Catalog Item Application Component Properties and ApprovalsDatabase 460 b, example Application Component 150, example InitialApplication Component Properties 154 a, example Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposals 154 b, example Processed applicationcomponent approval proposals 154 c, example Processed ApplicationComponent Properties 154 d, example Applied Deployment Approval Policy159, example Initial Virtual Machine Naming Properties 156 a, exampleInitial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties 157 a, example InitialVirtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties 158 a, example Initialvirtual machine naming approval proposal 156 b, example Initial virtualmachine addressing approval proposal 157 b, example Initial virtualmachine resource allocation approval proposal 158 b, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal 156 c, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal 157 c, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal 158 c, exampleProcessed Virtual Machine Naming Properties Proposal 156 d, exampleProcessed Virtual Machine Addressing Properties Proposal 157 d, exampleProcessed Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties Proposal 158 dand/or, more generally, example Virtual Appliance 320 and exampleDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4A-4G could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

Further, example Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b, exampleDeployment Event Broker 430 b, example Extensible Approval Service 420c, example Plugin 420 d, example Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420 e, example Consume First Deployment Approval Event Notification 501,example Publish First Deployment Approval Event Notification 502,example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval Event Notification503, example Reply Back With Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 504, example Approval Workflow Processing Request 511and/or example manner of operating the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 as in FIG. 5 may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.

Thus, for example, any of the example Deployment Approval ManagerService 420 b, example Deployment Event Broker 430 b, example ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c, example Plugin 420 d, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e, example Consume First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 501, example Publish First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 502, example Reply Back With SecondDeployment Approval Event Notification 503, example Reply Back WithSecond Deployment Approval Event Notification 504, example ApprovalWorkflow Processing Request 511 and/or example manner of operating theDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 as in FIG. 5 could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).

When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent tocover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one ofexample application 102, 102 a, the example application director 106,the example cloud provider 110, the example deployment environments 112,the example VMs 114, the example containers 114 a, the example topologygenerator 120, the example deployment plan generator 122, the exampledeployment director 124, the example blueprint 126, the exampledeployment plans 128, the example catalog database 130, the examplecloud interface 132, the example central package repository 134, theexample blueprint display 135, the example cloud manager 138, theexample blueprint manager 140, the example distributed executionmanagers 146A, 146B, the example application component 150, the exampleinitial application component properties 154 a, the example initialvirtual machine naming properties 156 a, the example initial virtualmachine addressing properties 157 a, the example initial virtual machineresource allocation properties 158 a, the example applied deploymentapproval policy 159, the example visual depiction of applicationcomponent 160, and/or, more generally, the example system 100, exampleblueprints 202, 206, 208, the example servers 210A, 210B, 210C, and/or,more generally, the example multi-machine blueprints of FIG. 2 exampleload balancer 310, the example Virtual Appliances 320, 322, the exampleDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324, the example Component Servers330 a-336 a, 330 b-336 b, the example Management Endpoints 340-344, theexample Management Agents 350 a-356 a, 350 b-356 b and/or, moregenerally, the example installation 300 of FIG. 3, example ServiceProvisioner 410 a, example Service Provisioner 410 b, exampleOrchestrator 420 a, example Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b,example Deployment Approval Event Record 422, example DeploymentApproval Event Information 423, example Deployment Approval EventNotification Generator 424, example Deployment Approval Timer 425,example Deployment Approval Processor 426, example Extensible ApprovalService 420 c, example Plugin 420 d, example Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e, example Deployment Approval WorkflowCommunications Manager 427, example Deployment Approval WorkflowExecution Unit 428, example Deployment Approval Workflow 429, exampleEvent Broker 430 a, example Deployment Event Broker 430 b, exampleDeployment Event Subscription Manager 431, example Deployment ApprovalTopic Registry 432, example Approval Provisioning Topics 433, exampleDeployment Approval Schema 434, example Authentication Provider 440 a,example Authentication Provider 440 b, example Proxy 450 a, exampleProxy 450 b, example Database 460 a, example Catalog Item ApplicationComponent Properties and Approvals Database 460 b, example ApplicationComponent 150, example Initial Application Component Properties 154 a,example Initial Application Component Approval Proposals 154 b, exampleProcessed application component approval proposals 154 c, exampleProcessed Application Component Properties 154 d, example AppliedDeployment Approval Policy 159, example Initial Virtual Machine NamingProperties 156 a, example Initial Virtual Machine Addressing Properties157 a, example Initial Virtual Machine Resource Allocation Properties158 a, example Initial virtual machine naming approval proposal 156 b,example Initial virtual machine addressing approval proposal 157 b,example Initial virtual machine resource allocation approval proposal158 b, example Processed Virtual Machine Naming Approval 156 c, exampleProcessed Virtual Machine Addressing Approval 157 c, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal 158 c, exampleProcessed Virtual Machine Naming Properties 156 d, example ProcessedVirtual Machine Addressing Properties 157 d, example Processed VirtualMachine Resource Allocation Properties 158 d and/or, more generally,example Virtual Appliance 320 and example Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 of FIGS. 4A-4G, example Deployment Approval ManagerService 420 b, example Deployment Event Broker 430 b, example ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c, example Plugin 420 d, example DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e, example Consume First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 501, example Publish First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 502, example Reply Back With SecondDeployment Approval Event Notification 503, example Reply Back WithSecond Deployment Approval Event Notification 504, example ApprovalWorkflow Processing Request 511 and/or example manner of operating theDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 as in FIG. 5 is/are herebyexpressly defined to include a tangible computer readable storage deviceor storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), acompact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing the software and/orfirmware.

Further still, the example system 100 of FIGS. 1A-1C, and the exampleblueprints 202-208 and the example multimachine service 210 of FIG. 2,and the example installation 300 of FIG. 3, and the example virtualappliance 320 and the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324,the example Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b and the exampledeployment event broker 430 b of FIGS. 4A-4G and the example DeploymentApproval Event Notification system 50 0 of FIG. 5 may include one ormore elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of,those illustrated in these foregoing figures, and/or may include morethan one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes anddevices.

Example flowcharts representative of example machine readableinstructions which may be executed to implement the example DeploymentApproval Virtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4B-4G to manage deploymentcustomization of an application for deployment in an applicationdeployment environment of a cloud computing platform provider are shownin the flowchart of FIGS. 6A-6C.

In these examples, the machine readable instructions implement programsfor execution by a processor such as the processor 712 shown in theexample processor platform 700 discussed below in connection with FIG.7. The programs may be embodied in software stored on a tangiblecomputer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a harddrive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memoryassociated with the processor 712, but the entire program and/or partsthereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than theprocessor 712 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware.Further, although the example programs are described with reference tothe flowchart illustrated in FIGS. 6A-6C, many other methods of managingcustomizations via approval in accordance with the teachings of thisdisclosure may alternatively be used. For example, the order ofexecution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocksdescribed may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 6A-6C may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. In someexamples, the example processes of FIGS. 6A-6C may be implemented usingcoded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions)stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium suchas a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compactdisk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/orany other storage device or storage disk in which information is storedfor any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, forbrief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of theinformation). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readablemedium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readablestorage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signalsand to exclude transmission media. As used herein, when the phrase “atleast” is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, it isopen-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” is open ended.Comprising and all other variants of “comprise” are expressly defined tobe open-ended terms. Including and all other variants of “include” arealso defined to be open-ended terms. In contrast, the term consistingand/or other forms of consist are defined to be close-ended terms.

A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructionswhich may be executed to implement the example Deployment ApprovalVirtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4B-4G to manage deployment customizationof an application for deployment in an application deploymentenvironment of a cloud computing platform provider are shown in FIGS.6A-6C. FIGS. 6A-6C depict a first flowchart representative of computerreadable instructions that may be executed to implement the exampleDeployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 of FIGS. 4B-4G to managedeployment customization of an application for deployment in anapplication deployment environment of a cloud computing platformprovider. An example program 600 is illustrated beginning in FIG. 6A.Initially at block 602, at least one processor executes an instructionto apply a deployment approval policy to an application component thatprovides a logical template of an application for deployment in anapplication deployment environment of a cloud computing provider. Theapplication component includes a plurality of initial applicationcomponent properties associated with the application. The at least oneprocessor executes an instruction to select a selected initialapplication component property, based on the deployment approval policy(block 604). The selected Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal is included in generation of an Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal (block 606).

For example, an example deployment approval policy can be applied to theApplication Component 150 in the database 460 b (e.g. Applied DeploymentApproval Policy 159.) The example deployment approval manager 420 b cangenerate the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal, forexample via the Deployment Approval Processor 426 and the AppliedDeployment Approval Policy 159. Generating the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal can include selecting a respective one ofthe initial application component properties 154 a. For example, via theDeployment Approval Processor 426, the Deployment Approval Manager 420can select from among the plurality of Initial Application ComponentProperties 154 a to select for the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal, in accordance with the Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159. The Initial Application Component Property can include atleast one of: an initial virtual machine naming property, an initialvirtual machine addressing property, and an initial virtual machineresource allocation property. The Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal can include at least one of: an initial virtual machine namingapproval proposal, an initial virtual machine addressing approvalproposal, and an initial virtual machine resource allocation approvalproposal.

In another example, the Initial Application Component Approval Proposalcan be a plurality of Initial Application Component Approval Proposals154 b. The deployment approval policy is applied to the ApplicationComponent 150 in the database 460 b (e.g. Applied Deployment ApprovalPolicy 159). The Deployment Approval Manager 420 can select from amongthe plurality of Initial Application Component Properties 154 a toselect for the Initial Application Component Approval Proposals 154 b inaccordance with the deployment approval policy 159. The InitialApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 b can include at least oneof: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, an initialvirtual machine addressing approval proposal, and an initial virtualmachine resource allocation approval proposal. In yet another example,the selected initial application component property can be a firstselected grouping of initial application component properties. Thegenerating of the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal caninclude selecting the first selected grouping of initial applicationcomponent properties to generate the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 canselect the first selected grouping of initial application componentproperties to select for the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal. For example, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 can usewildcards and/or have multiple sub-values in a value field, which can beseparated by a pre-defined symbol, to select the first selected groupingof initial application component properties to select for the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal.

In the example of FIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, the at least one processor executes an instruction togenerate a First Deployment Approval Notification including a FirstApproval Payload (block 608). For example, The Deployment Approval EventNotification Generator 424 of the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b cangenerate a First Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to aDeployment Approval Event Record 422 that records Deployment ApprovalEvent Information 423 about a deployment approval event occurrence. Thefirst Deployment Approval Event Notification can include DeploymentApproval Event Information 423, and can include a First Approval Payloadincluding the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal. Forexample, the Deployment Approval Event Notification Generator 424 of theDeployment Approval Manager Service 420 b can submit the FirstDeployment Approval Event Notification to the selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment Event Broker 430 b forpublication to the Extensible Approval Service 420 c.

In the example of FIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, the Deployment Approval Manager Service can select aselected Approval Provisioning Topic of the Deployment Event Broker fromamong a Pre-Approval Provisioning Topic and a Post-Approval ProvisioningTopic (block 610). The Deployment Event Broker can consume the FirstDeployment Event Notification (block 612). The Deployment Event Broker430 b can consume the First Deployment Approval Event Notification 501submitted by the Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b.Authentication provider 440 b can authenticate access to the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b.

In the example of FIG. 6A, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, the first deployment approval event notification can bepublished from a selected Approval Provisioning Topic of the DeploymentEvent Broker to an Extensible Approval Service (block 614). For example,the Deployment Event Broker 430 b shown in FIG. 4B, and shown in greaterdetail in FIG. 4D can include a Deployment Event Subscription Manager431, a Deployment Approval Topic Registry 432 and a selected ApprovalProvisioning Topic 433. The Deployment Event Broker 430 b includes aselected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 to publish the First DeploymentApproval Event Notification 502 to the Extensible Approval Service 420c, in response to the Deployment Event Broker 430 b consuming the FirstDeployment Approval Event Notification 501. The Extensible ApprovalService 420 c can include a Plugin 420 d to facilitate extensibility ofthe Extensible Approval Service 420 c.

In the example of FIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, the Extensible Approval Service can communicate aDeployment Approval Workflow Processing Request to a Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor via the Plug-In Extensible Approval Service (block616). This can include communicating the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal from the extensible approval service to a deploymentapproval workflow processor. For example, the Extensible ApprovalService 420 c can include at least one Plugin 420 d so as to facilitateextensibility of the Extensible Approval Service 420 c. The DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e can be employed to process adeployment approval workflow 429. The Plugin 420 d of the ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c can facilitate communication between theExtensible Approval Service 420 c and the Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor 420 e. The Extensible Approval Service 420 c can generate aDeployment Approval Workflow Processing Request in response to the FirstDeployment Approval Notification. The Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessing Request can include the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal.

In the example of FIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor can process aDeployment Approval Workflow in response to the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processing Request (block 618). This can include processing theInitial Application Component Approval Proposal into the processedApplication Component Approval (block 620). For example, the DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e can process the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429 to process the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal of the First Approval Payload into the Processed applicationcomponent approval proposal to be included in the Second ApprovalPayload. As mentioned previously, the Initial Application ComponentApproval Proposal of the First Approval Payload can include at least oneof an Initial Virtual Machine Naming Approval Proposal, an InitialVirtual Machine Addressing Approval Proposal, and an Initial VirtualMachine Resource Allocation Approval Proposal. The Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal of the Second Approval Payload can includeat least one of a Processed Virtual Machine Naming Proposal Approval, aProcessed Virtual Machine Addressing Proposal Approval, and a ProcessedVirtual Machine Resource Allocation Proposal Approval. The DeploymentApproval Workflow Processor 420 e can process the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429 in response to the Deployment Approval Workflow ProcessingRequest 511. The Deployment Approval Workflow 429 can process theInitial Application Component Approval Proposal into the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal. In another example, the InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal can be a plurality of InitialApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 b, and the deploymentapproval workflow processor can process the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposals 154 b into a plurality of ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposals 154 c. For example, an InitialApplication Component Approval Proposal of the First Approval Payloadcan be processed by the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 einto a Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to be includedin a Second Approval Payload.

In the example of FIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 622 the Deployment Approval Workflow Processordetermines whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor isfinished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow (e.g. processingthe Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.) If the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor determines that the processing of the DeploymentApproval Workflow is finished (e.g. processing the Initial ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal into the Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposal is finished), then execution of example program 600continues at block 624.

In the example of FIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 634 the Deployment Approval Workflow Processorcommunicates the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal tothe Extensible Approval Service, after the Deployment Approval WorkflowProcessor is finished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow (e.g.is finished processing the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.)For example, the Extensible Approval Service 420 c can be incommunication with the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e todetermine whether the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e isfinished processing the Deployment Approval Workflow 429 (e.g. whetherthe Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420 e is finished processingthe Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into the ProcessedApplication Component Approval Proposal.) The Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e can respond to the Extensible Approval Service420 c with the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal to beincluded in the Second Approval Payload, after the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e finishes processing of the Deployment ApprovalWorkflow 429 (e.g. after the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor 420e is finished processing the Initial Application Component ApprovalProposal into the Processed Application Component Approval Proposal.)

In the example of FIG. 6B, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 626 the Extensible Approval Service generates aSecond Deployment Approval Event Notification in response to anoccurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor finishingprocessing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal. The Second DeploymentApproval Event Notification includes a Second Approval Payload. TheSecond Approval Payload includes the Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposal. For example, the Extensible Approval Service 420 ccan generate a Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 503 inresponse to an occurrence of the Deployment Approval Workflow Processor420 e finishing processing of the Deployment Approval Workflow 429 (e.g.generate the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification 503 inresponse to an occurrence of the Workflow Processor 420 e finishingprocessing the Initial Application Component Approval Proposal into theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal.) The SecondDeployment Approval Event Notification 503 includes the second approvalpayload. The second approval payload includes the Processed ApplicationComponent Approval Proposal.

In the example of FIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 628 the Extensible Approval Service replies backto the selected Approval Provisioning Topic of the Deployment EventBroker with the Second Deployment Approval Event Notification includingthe Second Approval Payload. The Second Approval Payload includes theProcessed Application Component Approval Proposal. For example, theselected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of the Deployment Event Broker430 b can be repliable. The Extensible Approval Service 420 c can replyback to the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 of the DeploymentEvent Broker 430 b with the Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 503 including the Second Approval Payload.

In the example of FIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 630 the Deployment Event Broker can reply back tothe Deployment Approval Manager with the Second Deployment ApprovalEvent Notification including the Second Approval Payload. The SecondApproval Payload includes the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal. For example, the selected Approval Provisioning Topic 433 ofthe Deployment Event Broker 430 b can reply back to the DeploymentApproval Manager 420 b with the Second Deployment Approval EventNotification 504 including the Second Approval Payload.

In the example of FIG. 6C, in accordance with flowchart of exampleprogram 600, at block 632, the Deployment Approval Manager 420 b candetermine approval of one of the Initial Application ComponentProperties based upon the Processed Application Component ApprovalProposal. In another example, the Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposal can be a plurality of Processed Application ComponentApproval Proposals 154 c, and the Deployment Approval Manager candetermine approval of the Initial Application Component Properties basedupon the Processed Application Component Approval Proposals 154 c. Afterexecuting block 632, execution of example program 600 can end.

Although the example program 600 of FIGS. 6A-6C is described inconnection with managing deployment customization of an application fordeployment in an application deployment environment of a cloud computingplatform provider, the example program 600 of FIGS. 6A-6C implemented inaccordance with the teachings of this disclosure can be used in amulti-user scenario in which hundreds or thousands of users obtaindeployment customization using Approvals from Cloud Provider 110. Forexample, while manually managing deployment customizations in a manualfashion for such quantities of users would be overly burdensome or nearimpossible within required time constraints, examples disclosed hereinmay be used to process deployment customizations via approval and usingthe operations and Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 to managedeployment customizations via approval and deploy large quantities ofvirtual machines 114 and/or containers 114 a in an efficient andstreamlined fashion without burdening and frustrating end users withlong customization times to access such virtual machines 114 and/orcontainers 114 a.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 700 capableof executing the instructions of the flowchart of FIGS. 6A-6C toimplement the example Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance of FIGS.4B-4G. The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 712. The processor 712 of the illustrated example is hardwareemploying virtualization. For example, the processor 712 can beimplemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits,microprocessors or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer.As already discussed in detail previously herein, the hardware ofprocessor 712 is virtualized using virtualization such as VMs and/orcontainers. In the example of FIG. 7, the Deployment Approval VirtualAppliance 324 may be implemented by one or more VM's or containers, soas to virtualize the hardware of processor 712. In the example of FIG.7, the Deployment Approval Virtual Appliance 324 includes ServiceProvisioner 410 b, Deployment Approval Manager Service 420 b, ExtensibleApproval Service 420 c including Plugin 420 d, Deployment ApprovalWorkflow Processor 420 e, Deployment Event Broker 430 b, AuthenticationProvider 440 b and Catalog Item Approval Database 460 b.

The processor 712 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 713(e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the exampleoperations and management component 406 or portions thereof. Theprocessor 712 of the illustrated example is in communication with a mainmemory including a volatile memory 714 and a non-volatile memory 716 viaa bus 718. The volatile memory 714 may be implemented by SynchronousDynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory(DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or any othertype of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 716 may beimplemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memorydevice. Access to the main memory 714, 716 is controlled by a memorycontroller.

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 720. The interface circuit 720 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 722 are connectedto the interface circuit 720. The input device(s) 722 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 712. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 724 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 720 of the illustrated example. The output devices 724 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 720 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 720 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network726 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 700 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 728 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 728 include flash devices, floppydisk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, opticalBlu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk(DVD) drives.

Coded instructions 732 representative of the example machine readableinstructions of FIGS. 6A-6C may be stored in the mass storage device728, in the volatile memory 714, in the non-volatile memory 716, and/oron a removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD orDVD.

Copending U.S. patent application entitled “Methods and Apparatus forLimiting Data Transferred Over the Network by Interpreting Part of theData as a Metaproperty”, filed on the same day as the presentapplication, by Ventsyslav Raikov, Lazarin Lazarov, Boris Savov andRostislav Georgiev is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety. Copending U.S. patent application entitled “Methods andApparatus for Event-Based Extensibility of System Logic”, filed on thesame day as the present application, by Boris Savov, Igor Stoyanov andRostislav Georgiev is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

The various aspects, features and/or implementations as disclosed abovecan be used alone or in various combinations. Although certain examplemethods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosedherein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. Onthe contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles ofmanufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of thispatent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a database including anapplication component that provides a logical template of anapplication, the application component including a plurality of initialapplication component properties associated with the application; and adeployment approval manager to generate an initial application componentapproval proposal, the initial application component approval proposalproposing approval of one of the initial application componentproperties. 2-4. (canceled)
 5. An apparatus as defined in claim 1,wherein the initial application component approval proposal includes atleast one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal, aninitial virtual machine addressing approval proposal; and an initialvirtual machine resource allocation approval proposal.
 6. An apparatusas defined in claim 1, wherein the deployment approval manager is togenerate a first deployment approval event notification in response to adeployment approval event record that records deployment approval eventinformation about a deployment approval event occurrence, the firstdeployment approval event notification including a first approvalpayload, the first approval payload including the initial applicationcomponent approval proposal.
 7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6,further comprising a deployment event broker to consume the firstdeployment approval event notification from the deployment approvalmanager.
 8. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the deploymentevent broker includes an approval provisioning topic to publish thefirst deployment approval event notification to an extensible approvalservice in response to the deployment event broker consuming the firstdeployment approval event notification.
 9. An apparatus as defined inclaim 8, wherein the extensible approval service includes at least oneplugin so as to facilitate extensibility of the extensible approvalservice.
 10. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising: adeployment approval workflow processor to process a deployment approvalworkflow; and an extensible approval service having a plugin tofacilitate communication between the extensible approval service and thedeployment approval workflow processor. 11-19. (canceled)
 20. Anapparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein the deployment approval manageris to determine approval of one of the initial application componentproperties based upon the processed application component approvalproposal.
 21. A method of managing application properties of anapplication for deployment in an application deployment environment of acloud computing provider, the method comprising: applying, by executingan instruction with at least one processor, a deployment approval policyto an application component that provides a logical template of theapplication, the application component including a plurality of initialapplication component properties associated with the application;selecting, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor,a selected initial application component property based on thedeployment approval policy; and generating, by executing an instructionwith the at least one processor, an initial application componentapproval proposal proposing approval of the selected initial applicationcomponent property. 22-24. (canceled)
 25. A method as defined in claim21, wherein the initial application component approval proposal includesat least one of: an initial virtual machine naming approval proposal; aninitial virtual machine addressing approval proposal; and an initialvirtual machine resource allocation approval proposal.
 26. A method asdefined in claim 21, further comprising generating a first deploymentapproval event notification that includes a first approval payload, thefirst approval payload including the initial application componentapproval proposal.
 27. A method as defined in claim 26, wherein thegenerating of the first deployment approval event notification is inresponse to a deployment approval event record that records deploymentapproval information about a deployment approval event occurrence.
 28. Amethod as defined in claim 27, further comprising consuming the firstdeployment approval event notification from the deployment approvalmanager at a deployment event broker.
 29. A method as defined in claim28, further comprising publishing the first deployment approval eventnotification from an approval provisioning topic of the deployment eventbroker to an extensible approval service.
 30. A method as defined inclaim 29, wherein the extensible approval service includes a plugin tofacilitate extensibility of the extensible approval service. 31-39.(canceled)
 40. A method as defined in claim 28, further comprisingreplying back from the deployment event broker to the deploymentapproval manager with a second deployment approval event notificationincluding the second approval payload, the second approval payloadincluding the processed application component approval proposal.
 41. Amethod as defined in claim 39, further comprising determining approvalof one of the initial application component properties based upon theprocessed application component approval proposal.
 42. A tangiblecomputer readable storage medium comprising machine readableinstructions which, when executed, cause a logic circuit to at least:apply a deployment approval policy to an application component thatprovides a logical template of an application to be deployed in anapplication deployment environment of a cloud computing provider, theapplication component including a plurality of initial applicationcomponent properties associated with the application; select from amongthe plurality of initial application component properties a selectedinitial application component property based on the deployment approvalpolicy; and generate an initial application component approval proposalfrom the selected initial application component property.
 43. Thestorage medium as defined in claim 42, wherein: the selected initialapplication component property is a plurality of selected initialapplication properties; and the instructions to cause the logic circuitto the generate the initial application component approval proposal areto cause the logic circuit to the generate the initial applicationcomponent approval proposal from the plurality of selected initialapplication component properties.
 44. The storage medium as defined inclaim 42, wherein: the selected initial application component propertyis a first selected grouping of initial application componentproperties; and the instructions to cause the logic circuit to thegenerate the initial application component approval proposal are tocause the logic circuit to the generate the initial applicationcomponent approval proposal from the first selected grouping of initialapplication component properties.
 45. The storage medium as defined inclaim 42, wherein the instructions are to cause the logic circuit togenerate a first deployment approval event notification including afirst approval payload, the first approval payload including the initialapplication component approval proposal.
 46. The storage medium asdefined in claim 45, wherein the instructions are to cause the logiccircuit to publish the first deployment approval event notification froman approval provisioning topic of a deployment event broker.
 47. Thestorage medium as defined in claim 42, wherein the instructions are tocause the logic circuit to process the initial application componentapproval proposal into a processed application component approvalproposal.
 48. The storage medium as defined in claim 47, wherein theinstructions are to cause the logic circuit to reply back from thedeployment event broker to the deployment approval manager with a seconddeployment approval event notification including a second approvalpayload, the second approval payload including the processed applicationcomponent approval proposal.
 49. The storage medium as defined in claim48, wherein the instructions are to cause the logic circuit to determineapproval of one of the initial application component properties basedupon the processed application component approval proposal.